We have the pleasure to introduce to you Emily Nathan, winner of the Photo Of The Day with Resource Magazine. Emily shared some thoughts and insights with us.
Hi Emily, please tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi there. I live in a little bungalow built in 1906 in Oakland, California with my husband Jake (who also built and designed the UX for TinyAtlas and all my websites in the past) and our young son Otto (and cat Omai). I am a professional photographer and I work for commercial clients like Apple and Google as well as magazines like Travel and Leisure and Ritz Carlton. I moved to San Francisco after college to pursue photography as a career.
When did you start taking photos and what inspired you to get started?
I started taking photos in early high school I think. My father had a manual Olympus and a love of photography that drove my interest at the time. We also always read the Sunday NYT and the magazine has always been a big source of inspiration.
How did you get your first professional gig?
Hmm, cold calling! I had an internship in college in Chile at the national daily newspaper in Santiago. That was not paid but it was out of this world experience. My first assignment was to photograph the president! Back at college (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) I worked for my school paper and learned more about digital management of images. Out of school I moved to SF and took my portfolio to the AP and that must have been my first assignments. Then I took my book to the SF Bay Guardian and starting shooting more portrait (rather than photojournalism) work pretty much right away. My husband was actually my art director way back then in 1999 (that is how we met). I was only 21 at the time but he told me later that he assumed I was older.
Do you have a “favorite shot” if so which one is it?
Let's see. I am not sure now. For a time it was this image of a horse's back that was an outtake from my first big travel job (a trip to shoot for a week for Gourmet magazine in Costa Rica- again, cold calling and going to meetings in nyc with home-made portfolios). Then for a while maybe the image that is the homepage of my emilynathan.com site which is from a personal surf trip to Byron Bay I took with Jake. Now I have so much new work, I need to let it sink in and see what favorites are there.
Can you share with us what has been your most challenging shoot session and why?
Let's see, not sure. Every shoot has challenges. My first Tiny Atlas project in Montana was actually a really hard shoot even though it was a great experience. It was the first time I did such an ambitious project for myself. Naturally, since it was the first one and I had spent a ton of my own money on it, all of the people traveling to Montana had cancelled flights. You can imagine the rest from there. It all worked out though!
How do you describe your photography style?
I shoot beautiful natural work. I capture people looking great and looking real and like themselves.
Can you share a tip with aspiring photographers?
One thing I often ask aspiring photographers is "who do you want to work for?" I ask them to name 5-10 companies or magazines. They often cannot tell me the answer right away. If you don't know what you want to shoot and who you want to shoot for, no one else will either.
Thanks so much ViewBug!
I hope you love our magazine tinyatlasquarterly.com, online now, new issue out in a few weeks, and coming to you IN PRINT in the first half of next year.
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